The Hungry Games
by dirtymick32
Summary: Katniss and Peeta are fighting for their lives in the Hunger Games, as the world becomes overrun by walkers. Now they must fight for their lives to keep from being eaten to death. The tributes are not all they have to worry about now... Please read and review! I am a semi-serious author, and would love any advice any of you have...I am not too familiar with THG, except the movie.
1. Chapter 1

THE HUNGRY GAMES

DirtyMick32

CHAPTER ONE

Katniss was startled awake by screaming, a screaming that was male, and riddled with agony; and almost fell out of the tree. She caught herself by a branch, forgetting that she had tied herself to the tree. She tried to shake the haziness of sleep from her mind, the fuzzy thing distracting her from the almost certainty of her death.

"Real smooth, Kat," she muttered to herself. Then she remembered the screaming. It had grown a little quieter, like at a farther distance from her; but it was still persistent. She tried to make out words, but couldn't. It was a frantic scream, a shrieking, high pitched, hysterical sound...a sound she had come to almost get used to.

Katniss waited for the cannon to go off. She would not leave the tree until then. She waited for a long time but the cannon never came. Maybe whoever it was had gotten away. She strained her ears, and could hear nothing over the sound of the birds. She untied the rope from around her legs, and tucked it into the backpack. Every time she looked in there, she almost expected to see something she had overlooked, a small surprise in the barbarism that had become her immediate life.

Climbing down from the tree had become something she became accustomed to, she moved silently. She didn't want to be detected by any of the bloodthirsty psychos that wanted her dead. She walked through the forest, keeping her eyes open, and an arrow nocked...just in case. Katniss let her mind wander to Peeta...she hoped he was okay. Even though he had been leading Cato and the others to her, she was sure he didn't want her dead. Self-preservation and all that. She had to find him, to protect him.

She was jarred out of her thoughts suddenly by a noise to her left side. A soft rustling sound, a sound that would have been imperceptable to anyone other than her...her senses were sharp these days; sharper than her normal level, which was far superior to anyone's she knew. You had to be sharp to hunt.

The rustling sounded to Katniss like someone clumsily walking through the forest, but at about a quarter mile away...like there weren't kids killing each other out here.

"Someone's getting sloppy," she whispered, and climbed the nearest large tree, to get a good look. After a few minutes, a figure took shape through the leaves and branches. It was a woman, one Katniss hadn't seen before. She was staggering through the forest, kind of rocking as she walked. Her head was down, looking at the ground, with her dirty hair in her face. As she shambled closer, Katniss could see her shirt was ragged, torn, and covered in blood. What the hell had happened to her, and how had she survived after losing that much blood?

The woman was breathing very loud and there was something not quite right about it. Did it sound like growling? Could that be what she was doing? Why would she be growling? And was she not worried about attracting attention from the other kids out here? Katniss' mind reeled with questions. Best to shut that off, and focus. She drew her bow back, keeping the tip on the strange woman.

A new noise, off to her right. This was a sound she was familiar with. The voice of Cato.

"Is that her? Get her!" Katniss could tell they were close, but she was closer to the woman than they were. She turned, aiming her arrow at the three teenagers closing in on the woman. The first was a brunette, who was excellent with throwing knives; the second was a boy with a long knife, and the third was Cato himself, wielding a sword.

As the teens got closer to the woman, she stopped, listened, and turned toward them. She broke out into a run, growling and snarling at them. The brunette girl threw several knives, hitting their mark. They all chunked into the woman's chest...but she kept coming. It was as if she didn't even know the knives were in her chest! Not missing a beat, brunette girl stabbed the woman in her neck, expecting this to drop her instantly. To brunette girl's surprise, the strange woman grabbed her, and started chewing her throat. Blood gushed in a fountain from the bite, and she tried to scream; but was unable. All that came out was a gurgling gasp.

As the strange woman was feasting upon brunette girl, the boy with the knife reached her. He screamed with effort and determination as he buried the knife in the woman's back. The woman growled, and turned on him. Katniss could see the color drain from his face, before the woman was on top of the boy. The kid couldn't have been more than 14. Katniss couldn't see what the woman was doing to him, but she could hear his screams and see blood spraying up from his body.

Then the woman's head fell to the ground, and Cato wiped the blade of his sword on her torn and bloody shirt.

"Bitch wasn't even one of the tributes! What the hell?!" Cato breathed heavily, "Now what the hell am I gonna do?"

He stood there for a while, looking down at the dead bodies of his little death team. Katniss could only imagine what was going on in his mind. She didn't understand him, he was alien to her. Cato turned to finally walk away, and he heard a gasp. He spun to see what had made the sound, and was terrified to see that the brunette was sitting up. Her skin was a blue-gray, and her eyes were glazed over and bloodshot. She turned to look at him, and was on her feet before he knew what had happened. She snarled as she ran at him full speed. Purely out of reflex, and because she would have been on him in another second, he had buried the sword in the brunette's left eye. It made a disgusting squelching sound as he pulled the sword from her head, and she crumpled to the ground without a sound.

That was enough for Cato. He turned and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.

After all that, Katniss relaxed the bow, and sat in thought. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. Why had the cannon not gone off after the two teens had been killed? And how had the brunette gotten back up? And dammit, why didn't the cannon go off?

She heard a rustling sound below, and looked down, only to see the teenage boy getting to his feet. He breathed loudly, and there was a hint of a growl as he shambled away.


	2. Chapter 2

The Hungry Games

CHAPTER TWO

Katniss climbed down the tree, still trembling. Her mind reeled with what she had just seen; she tried to shut it off, and wasn't able. She wondered what she should do now...were they still playing? There hadn't been an announcement in days, and the cannon had been quiet even though there had been deaths right in front of her eyes. And Cato...he was still out there, and was still out for blood, she was sure.

She turned her mind to scanning the forest, and saw just trees. There were no birds singing, no noise at all. It was quite unsettling, and it made her senses go into overdrive. She began to walk, making sure she had an arrow ready to fire. Her mind wandered, and she thought about a lot...her family, Peeta, the strange dead woman who liked to eat people, and the fact that she saw two teenagers chewed alive, and return from the dead. The last thought was particularly unsettling.

Katniss found herself coming up on the clearing where the supplies were kept. There, one of the dead teenagers was shambling around, seemingly directionless. What a pointless existence. Katniss crouched down silently, and decided she would put this creature out of its misery. When she let the arrow go, she breathed out silently, knowing that the arrow would hit the intended target. The girl stopped suddenly, looking down at its chest, where there was an arrow sticking out. To Katniss' surprise, the girl turned towards her, snarling and breaking out into a goofy run. Katniss, with lightning speed, nocked another arrow, and put it right between the girls' eyes, taking her off her feet.

Katniss shook, adrenaline coursing through her veins. After a moment, she walked slowly into the clearing, constantly scanning all around her for movement. She reached the girl, and pulled the two arrows from her body. Can't lose these, she thought. She then began digging through the boxes of supplies, taking food and stuffing it into her pack. She also found another quiver of arrows, "that should make 30 or so," and a survival knife with a compass.

As she was shouldering the now-heavy pack, she heard a soft noise from the other side of the mound of boxes. Alert, she went on the defensive, and got ready. Slowly, she circled the boxes, looking for anyone or anything who could have made the noise...and nothing. Suddenly, she was surprised by a loud yell, and she was on her back. Too late, she saw the boy on top of the boxes, jumping at her. He was trying to stab her, when suddenly, he stopped.

"Katniss?" It was Peeta.

"Jesus, Peeta! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry," he looked like he truly was. "I thought you were one of those things. Or Cato. I didn't know, I was scared."

"It's okay, I'm glad to see you!" The two hugged tightly. "Stay by my side, and we're going to get back home, okay?"

Just then, there was a very deafening explosion, and the dome seemed like it was coming down around them. They ran as fast as they could, to get to the cornucopia, the only shelter there was. The whole dome crashed down to the ground, and there was smoke everywhere. Through the smoke, Katniss could see a shimmering shape in the treeline, that sent her mind whirling. She could see daylight, and fire. She didn't hesitate. She grabbed Peeta, and ran towards the shimmering daylight, that was circled with fire.

Cato was crouched down in the cornucopia before the dome came crashing down, and he watched her dig through his supplies. He waited while the wimp jumped on her, and then they talked. He was biding his time. He was hidden behind boxes, and listened to them talk. What a pussy, little Peeta talking about how scared he was. It took literally everything Cato had, not to kill him right then and there. But patience...if they find a way out, he will follow, and then kill them both. He would still win. He followed them to the daylight circled with fire, and they never saw him.

Andrea and Dale barely made it behind the sandbags before the CDC exploded, igniting the oxygen in the air for quite a distance. Both of them felt a rush of heat, and the shock of the explosion. As the explosion collapsed in on itself and the air cooled, everyone ventured a glance back at the CDC. Through the shimmer of heat and flame, it appeared as though two figures were running outward from the blast's epicenter...


	3. Chapter 3

THE HUNGRY GAMES

Chapter Three

The group watched, stunned, as the two people ran out of the blast's ceter. One was a young woman, carrying a silver bow, and the other was a young man, leaning on the woman for support. The man looked like he was limping pretty good, but was practically being dragged by the woman. The young man suddenly dropped, and she was trying to get him on his feet.

Dale knew what he had to do. He began running toward them, calling out to them. He knew they weren't walkers. Walkers don't help each other.

"Hey come on! We gotta get out of here!"

Katniss looked up, shocked to hear a voice calling to them, offering them help. The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by several people, dragging her and Peeta to their feet and toward strange looking vehicles.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? We don't know them, and we don't have the resources to be taking in everybody we come across!" Shayne was obviously pissed, and voicing his opinion, yet again.

"Shut up, we're takin' 'em." Daryl was taking no shit these days, least of all from the cop with a chip on his shoulder.

The group loaded up the two new strangers in the RV, as Daryl took out a few walkers with his crossbow. Then they were on the road again, with no clue where to go now.

Nobody saw Cato as he walked through the shimmering circle. That was okay. Let them run away from him as much as they want, he will come out on top anyway. He had never seen vehicles like they got into, and he was not angry when they drove away. "Patience, Cato. You're a winner, and you always will be. The game has changed, but we're still playing."

He noticed there were dead looking people like he had seen in the forest, and drew two swords. He was trained to kill, and they moved a lot slower than the people he was used to killing. He ran at a slow clip, in the direction they had driven; slicing the dead people as he ran, focused and determined.

"Where the hell did you guys come from?" Dale was trying to understand what had happened. "How did you manage to survive the blast?"

"I have no idea," Katniss explained, "I'm not entirely sure what happened. All I know is there was a huge explosion, and I saw this shape circled in fire, and it seemed it was safer than where we were...so we ran for it."

_Maybe she got hit on the head_, Dale thought, _because that's impossible. Or she could be crazy._ But she didn't look crazy. She was tending to a burn on the young man's calf, and telling him he would be okay.

"I'm Katniss, and this is Peeta." She took a small container from her bag, and unscrewed the lid. "Here, this will help with the burn. It's going to sting a little, but it will heal quickly." Peeta hissed air when she put it on, and covered it with a big leaf.

_What the hell? Who carries leaves with them to cover a wound?_ Dale was baffled, but these strange people needed help, and that was all he concerned himself with.

"I'm Dale, and this is Andrea...a friend of mine. That guy there is Glenn, and over there is T-Dog." Each one nodded when their name was said, and smiled a little. T-Dog responded with "Sup."

The group drove for hours, until it seemed that night was about to fall. Rick honked his horn, indicating to the group to stop. There was a farmhouse about an eighth of a mile of the highway they were on, and Rick pulled in. The RV followed, and Daryl brought up the rear, stopping at the Jeep to find out what was going on.

"We gotta stop for the night, and figure out where we're heading," Rick was tired, and out of optons.

"Seems like the thing to do," Daryl replied, "we should clear the house first." He turned Merle's bike off, and set it on the kickstand; grabbing the crossbow off his shoulder. Rick got out and joined him. They looked over the outside of the house, and the land the house sat on. The house was a white two story with an overgrown lawn, and an old small barn that looked like it was a strong breeze away from falling in on itself. No walkers within sight.

"So this is your plan, Rick? You lead us to the CDC, and now a farmhouse?" Shayne was pissed, and made no bones about it. "We should still be heading to Fort Benning."

"We need a place to sleep, Shayne. Would you rather us be out there, all night, unprotected?" Rick was getting tired of being second-guessed by Shayne, and he guessed he would just have to explain it to Shayne. He needed him on his side. Some of the group listened to him, and he was a powerful force. "we can talk about where we go from here when we get the house cleared. Till then, we focus on the task at hand."

Rick assembled a team of himself, Shayne, Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog. They closed in on the house, and could hear movement from inside. Daryl stood beside the door, his crossbow pointed up, as Shayne stood behind Rick directly in front of the door, and T-Dog and Glenn were on the other side.

"Move silently, and kill quietly. If there are walkers around, we don't want them to hear the shots. Daryl, you take point." Rick was in cop mode now, calling shots and taking no shit. He had his python in his hand, and the safety was off.

Daryl turned the knob, and pushed in the door. He was quick and quiet as he went inside, and the others followed.


End file.
